The Angels of Heaven
by SuperWhoLockGirl423
Summary: Heaven is a place of light and peace guarded by the Angels. Times are difficult, and the Angels must look out for each other. Tensions run high as many oppose God's new humans, and some may learn what it truly means to be one of God's Angels.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is a fic that revolves a lot around Heaven and the Angels. I have based all the information about the Choirs of Angels from the Catholic faith, all found on this website w. w. w. catholic saints/angels/angelchoir- (no spaces or anything) in case you're interested more about that. I don't own any of the information about the Choirs of Angels, and many of the Angels themselves are based off of Supernatural characters. I'm a bit nervous about this story, but please let me know what you think of it, I do have more than just this chapter planned. The only things I own of this are the two angels Lythel and Amoura, that is all, thank you for reading. If I update, it will be much longer chapters.**

Heaven was a place of light and peace. The Nine Choirs of Angels were being created to be the protectors of this peace.

The Seraphim were the highest order, and they were the guardians over His Throne. The Cherubim were next highest underneath the Seraphim, and they act as the helpers and assistants of God. The Thrones came next, the angels of Peace, Humility, and Submission. To be in God's presence, the lower angels would have to pass through these Thrones first. The Dominions are the leaders over the angels, making sure that each angel is doing their duty under God's commands. The Virtues are the Spirits of Motion, and have the ability of controlling the weather, they govern all of nature, and have power over miracles. They have the task of providing courage, grace, and valor. The Powers are the angels given the job of defending all of God's creation against the forces of evil and protect humans from evil spirits that wreak chaos. The Powers are led by Samael and Camael, the angels of darkness. Next in line are the Archangels, the chief angels that serve as God's messengers to people during crises and salvation. The second to last Choir are the Principalities, the spiritual beings that have become hostile to God and his humans, but are still ruled by God.

The last Choir is the most widely known, the most social, and the beings closest to humans. These angels not only deliver prayers to God and return with answers, but they also have the ability to help those in need and are ultimately guardians of the humans.

Each of these angels was individually made by God's hand, and he shaped each one, knowing the role they would play throughout history.

When he created the angels, he left the Archangels to look after each of them and care for them while he began his work on creating humanity. Not all of the Archangels were very happy with this, but there were some that were. The Archangel Gabriel was perhaps the reluctant against God's word of raising the young angels to be strong enough to protect God's newest work, the humans.

Gabriel was put in the charge of four young angels, and he was not happy about it.

"Gabriel, you must be willing to give your life for these young angels, it is God's word that these angels are to be cared for especially, for they have important roles to play," the Archangel Michael spoke to his brother.

"Whatever, as long as they don't pull my wings and make a mess of Heaven." Gabriel replied, rolling his eyes. Out of the Archangels, Gabriel had been chosen as their messenger. You could say that some of their habits had rubbed off on him and his speech patterns.

"Brother, please just look after them. Our Father is hard at work with these humans, and he has asked this of us. It is hard enough with Lucifer rebelling against these humans, he has got to be more careful. I'm afraid if he fights against them much more Father will banish him from Heaven." Michael pleaded.

"Alright, fine. Where are the little squirts?"

"Raphael should be arriving with them any second."

As if on cue, a flutter of wings rustled the clouds by them and both Archangels turned to see the Archangel Raphael holding four very small bundles of feathers.

"They've just been created, you must look after these carefully Gabriel. I don't know why God has trusted you with them, you are the least trustworthy of us all, but he has faith in you. I only hope that you don't screw this up." Raphael warned Gabriel, handing him the small bundles of feathers.

Gabriel was reluctant about this whole situation, he had an important job that he performed as God's messenger, and these angels would only slow him down. His mind was changed immediately as one of the small bundles lifted up it's head and looked at him, with shining blue eyes. He knew it's name, Castiel, just as he knew the names of all the angels. The rest of them soon turned to look at his blinding grace, Balthazar, Amoura, and Lythel. As he looked upon the fledglings, he knew that in time he would come to love each one of his brothers and sisters, and his grace warmed at the sight of them.

"I would be happy to look after them." he replied with a content flutter of his magnificent wings, warmth spreading through his whole essence.


	2. Chapter 2

**I was going to make this chapter longer, but I decided to end it here, I won't lie when I say the next chapter will be much longer. Much of what I'm writing is speculation about what the Angels actually do, but I'm trying my best. Lythel and Amoura are both OC's, they are Castiel's and Balthazar's sisters. This story will continue on for awhile, and will become a bit AU, I have many plans for this story. I hope you like it!**

"So, Castiel, Balthazar, Lythel, and Amoura. I'll try not to get you all confused, but hey, first time parent here." he said with a smile, the tiny angels looked up at him at the mention of their names. Castiel seemed to be the most loyal and obedient, sitting up straight waiting for Gabriel's commands. Balthazar was a little less focused, and was content looking at his surroundings, taking in their surroundings. Lythel seemed the least obedient, but had a sense of loyalty that made up for a lack of obedience. Amoura had a very bright sense of kindness in her that shone through.

"Do you know how to use your grace yet? Smiting? Flying? Healing? That'll be important. Have they taught you any of that?" Gabriel asked them. All the small angels just looked at him in confusion.

"Right, you probably don't know much yet. Well! Now we can get to work. I see each of you have got a pair of wings, why don't we work on flying first?" Balthazar and Amoura stretched out their wings excitedly, each possessing a pair of beautiful white and grey wings, while Castiel and Lythel held back, both looking a bit nervous. Gabriel went to their sides.

"What's wrong?" he asked them kindly.

"Everybody has white wings except Lucifer and us." Castiel replied sadly, looking away from Gabriel.

"Hey, that shouldn't matter, every angel's wings are beautiful, you shouldn't be ashamed of them. When God gives an angel black wings, it is so they can survive a trip to hell. You want to know a secret kiddos?" he asked affectionately. Both angels nodded.

"I can see your futures, what God has planned for you, and you both play important roles. Castiel, someday, you will be the angel to pull the Righteous Man from hell. Lythel, you will be the angel to dive into the Pit to save the innocent man. Don't tell the others this, but you two will be very special." Gabriel knew that their roles, and Michael had been right, these angels would be very important too. While Castiel and Lythel would save men from hell, Balthazar and Amoura would be crucial to the survival of humankind as well. Both angels beamed back at him.

Castiel let out his wings first, they were a charcoal black with miniature white streaks at the very tips of his wings. Lythel's wings were the darkest shade of ebony, and they were bigger than Castiel's, because in her future, she will need to fly harder and faster, invisible to demons. Both pairs of wings were incredibly beautiful, as were the wings of every angel.

"Come on, it's time for your first lesson." Gabriel said with a grin, flashing his own golden wings out behind him. He led the small angels over to the edge of a cliff, he had transported them to a untempered spot on Earth, they would need to practice, and this was the best training field Gabriel could think of.

"Alright, so first rule of flying, be aware of who's around you, make sure that there aren't any humans around when you pop out your wings, their eyes aren't strong enough to perceive our grace, and it would burn their eyes out. Plus it's just good to be watchful when you're flying, because your wings are gonna grow. You see how big mine are? They have to become bigger when I fly, it's just how it works."

"Now, watch my lead." Gabriel said to the young angels before leaning back over the cliff, his wings spread out to their full length. As he fell, he heard small cries of protest from the young ones, but he simply grinned and forced his wings against the wind and propelled himself upward, hovering just over the side of the cliff where four young angels looked at him with huge awed smiles as they cheered his return.

"Nothing to it kiddos, just relax and let your grace do all the work for you! Of course, don't relax so much that you forget to beat your wings, just move them together up and down."

Castiel was the first to approach the cliff, the others watched nervously behind him. He walked forward until he was standing at the very edge of the cliff and could look over it to the green valley below. He glanced up at Gabriel for assurance, Gabriel simply smiled at him warmly and nodded his head a bit. Mimicking Gabriel's earlier actions, he stretched out his small wings and jumped off the cliff. The three other Angels rushed to the edge to see if Castiel was flying or falling, Gabriel had dove out of sight beneath the cliff. They were all reassured as Castiel waved back up at them, his wings beating excitedly as he maintained a stable hovering position in the sky.

The next to try to fly was Lythel, she was not about to let her little brother show her up, so she puffed out her wings and took the plunge as well, beating her wings in synchronization as hard as she could. She let out an excited squeal as she realized she wasn't falling, but flying. She fluttered over to Castiel and Gabriel.

"Come on Balthazar and Amoura! You guys can do it!" encouraged the flying Angels. Amoura gave Balthazar a nervous look, but he simply went off the join the others in flight, his skills picking up just like the others. Amoura looked down at them all flying and chasing each other happily, and she wanted to join them. Determined, she stretched out her ivory wings and dove off the cliff. She beat her wings as hard as she could, but panic became present in her grace as she couldn't keep her wings synchronized, and she fell further and further down.

"Hold on Amoura!" called Gabriel, as he swooped down and caught her gently. Her grace was emitting embarrassment and shame for not being able to fly the first time. "Hey, don't feel bad, not everybody can fly on their first try. You can do it, come on, let's try again, I'll be right next to you the whole time." Gabriel smiled at her, and she calmed down.

"Okay." she replied shyly. Gabriel flew them back up to the cliff where she tried to fly again, only this time instead of falling, she was able to beat her wings together and kept herself in the air. Gabriel watched them play and chase each other with a proud grin on his face, before joining in the antics himself. The humans had only just been created, they still had training to do before the real work begins.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hope you enjoy this next chapter. This will tell you a bit more about their personalities and they have a bit of training! Future updates may not be as fast as I figure out where I am headed with this, but I do hope you enjoy it. It's kind of fluffy toward the end, but I tried to make it as heartwarming as I could, we'll see how that works out. :P I don't know of any ships in this, I'll just have to see as the story progresses how things work out. I apologize for any inaccuracies, I'm trying to make the best of this, so please leave a review letting me know what you think of all this, it really does make my day better!**

Gabriel kept flying with them, teaching them different maneuvers, and the most effective way to fly long distances, along with some of his other flying tricks.

"Okay kiddos, the first rule about flying in battle is to keep your enemies in sight at all times, if you can see them, you can fight them. If you lose track of where they are, then they have the upper hand and you are unprepared. Balthazar, come here." Gabriel motion for Balthazar to fly in front of him.

"If I come at you like this," Gabriel flew toward Balthazar but stopped before he could hurt him, "then what is your first response?" Balthazar flew out of Gabriel's reach.

"Okay, not bad, but that shouldn't be your first move. The best thing would be to focus your grace into your hands. Don't worry about that now, we'll get to it, but once you've done that, you force your grace into the demons, your grace burns their dark nature, and smites them into oblivion. Now, the best position to smite them is with your arms extended toward them with your wings shooting you forward while you keep the rest of your body as far away from them as you can. Let me show you..." Gabriel advanced toward an invisible enemy with his arms extended past his form and his wings stretched out behind him shooting him forward.

"Now take note, this won't always work. It takes a lot of training for you to be able to control your grace, we must also know how to use our blades. You should all have one, it's bright silver with Enochian engravings on it." each one of the Angels pulled out a silver blade.

"Good, now that you have them, I am going to confiscate them so we don't hurt each other too bad. Instead, I am giving you mock blades, they are identical to yours now, but they can do you no harm." Gabriel made all the blades vanish and replaced them with harmless ones.

"Alright, Lythel, come give me your best shot." Gabriel said, pulling out another fake blade for him. Lythel was a fierce Angel, she shot toward him and started slashing at him, but Gabriel dodged each of her swipes and attacks with ease, occasionally blocking a blow with his own sword. They kept going at it until the younger Angel tired out.

"You put up a very good fight Lythel, you have done very well. Did you see some of the mistakes you made?" Gabriel asked. Lythel nodded in response.

"Alright, while I work with you each individually, I would like you to find a partner and duel each other, it's good if we get as much practice in as we can before the sun goes down. Castiel, you're next up." Castiel gave Gabriel a nervous look, but approached him, the mock silver blade held up nervously. Amoura smirked from behind them and took a swing at Balthazar. She knew that Lythel needed time to relax for a bit after her duel with Gabriel, and Balthazar had his guard down at the moment. He gave her a shocked look as the blade grazed past him, but he laughed when it caused him no pain, and he fought right back.

"Relax Castiel, these blades can't hurt us, we'll be perfectly sa..." but Gabriel was cut off by laughter from Castiel and the others as Castiel rammed into Gabriel, his sword thrashing around wildly, but Gabriel just laughed and fought back lightly. Castiel was quite the fighter, his determination is very prominent in his grace. From behind them, Amoura, Lythel, and Balthazar were having fun dueling.

"Go for his side! No, no, the other side!" cheered Lythel from the sidelines as Amoura fought against Balthazar. They were both laughing and squealing as the swords clashed with loud rings. Of course, with them being close to children, they eventually resorted to smacking each other with their wings and chasing each other around the cliffs.

"Lythel, you fight Amoura now, I'm tired," Balthazar whined. In his defense, he had worked with Gabriel a bit already. Amoura was wound up and ready to fight some more, her grace shining with excitement.

"Alright, you're going down Amoura!" mocked Lythel. Amoura only laughed at her, before they engaged in a playful battle.

A little ways off from where they were, Gabriel fought against Castiel, giving him points on the best way to maneuver in certain situations, and the fastest ways to get the upper-hand on your opponent. After awhile, Castiel's movements began to slow as he became weary from the rigorous training.

"Castiel, why don't you go over and send Amoura over here, you look a bit tired, take a bit of a break for now, you've done very well." Gabriel said with a warm smile. Castiel beamed with happiness and flew off. Amoura had taken his place not seconds after Castiel had left.

"Let's start shall we?" Gabriel motioned for her to attack. Amoura grinned and responded swiftly. She had a beginner's knowledge of fighting from roughhousing with Balthazar, but Gabriel helped her learn some of the finer points of aerial dueling.

As the sky lit up with shades of orange and scarlet as the sun sank beneath the horizon, the young Angels began to tire. By the time the moon had risen in the sky joined by thousands of stars lighting up the night sky, the Angels were ready to rest for awhile.

Gabriel led them to the cliff-face and they all laid out beneath the stars on the grass, the sound of falling water and the occasional owl were the only sounds to be heard that night.

The Angels had become friendlier toward each other as the day went on. Amoura had really warmed up to each of them, and would occasionally bicker light-heartedly with Balthazar. Lythel seemed distant towards them, but was close to Amoura and seemed to look up to Gabriel. Castiel was the most distant however, he seemed almost out of place among the others, but they were very kind and accepting toward him. Balthazar liked to play more than the others and was getting to be very clever.

Gabriel's fondness for them grew as he watched them train that day, and he couldn't help but smile proudly at the four angels around him. They had become his family. Yes, he had other angels as his family, but they were closer to him and he had a more personal bond with each of them.

"Gabriel, would we ever be able to meet God?" asked Castiel.

Gabriel sighed. "No, it's very, very rare for an angel to ever meet God. You'd have to pass through the Choirs of Angels." He could tell that this upset the little ones, and he saw their wings droop a bit.

"Have you ever met him?" asked Amoura.

Gabriel shook his head, "Maybe someday we'll meet him. Don't think that he doesn't love us though, because he does. That's why he's putting you in charge of looking after his most important creation, the humans."

"You love us too right Gabriel?" Lythel asked.

"Course I do kiddos." Gabriel smiled at them, his grace warming. They went silent after that. As they looked up to the stars, they felt Gabriel's enormous wings wrap around them. In that one moment, things were okay, they were happy, and all was right with the world.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry about the later update, I've been busy recently, I've been asked to play for my cousin's wedding, I'm helping my friend with a secret project of hers, school starts next week, I have music I've been practicing for All-State Orchestra this year, and I'm balancing original stories too. So this means I will continue to be a bit busy. Don't worry though, updates will continue to come. I think I've changed my mind about the pairings however, I may decide to bring some in, but there will never be any smut and I would like to hear your input. What would you like to see happen? Or not happen? Same thing goes for other characters you want to see. The Winchesters will come in a few more chapters down the line and an actual plot will form as well, but until then bear with me.**

Gabriel and his angels rested until the sun peaked over the horizon. They did not need sleep technically, but they were perfectly content to be in each other's company and simply watch the stars. The next day, they were as energetic and, if possible, more excited than the day before.

One by one, they each jumped off the cliff and soared into the sky to warm up their wings. Balthazar however, thought it would be funny to whack the wings of anyone he could catch, and this led to an extreme version of tag, because after Balthazar whacked Castiel, he fell into Amoura. She thought that Lythel was the one responsible, so she tackled Lythel, and they ended up in a wrestling match. That was, until Lythel took a swing at Amoura but missed, and caught Castiel with a blow to his left wing. He proceeded to whack both angels on the head, but not before accidentally knocking into Balthazar. This went on for no more than a minute before Gabriel stepped in.

"Hey! Cut it out! No, just, stop it!" Gabriel tried unsuccessfully to intercede, but was overpowered when Lythel bowled into his side. He tried to get her off, but she just laughed and dragged him into their childish wrestling. At first he tried to get them all to behave, but after a minute of playing with them, he just joined in and laughed with them together.

"Alright, come on, we've got to get some training in today." Gabriel reasoned, backing out of the wrestling match. They didn't disband at first, but after a while he finally got them to settle down.

"Okay, let's work on fighting techniques a bit. Amoura, you will fight with me for awhile, the rest of you can work with each other. No goofing off, I want to see you actually practicing some of the moves I taught you yesterday." Gabriel instructed.

They all nodded, and training resumed. Gabriel continued to work with them on their skills for days on end. The rest they had the first day was more to spend time with each other than anything, but the next few days were vigorous as far as training went. He taught them how to use their grace to their advantage when battling demons, how to smite them, and how to manifest their grace into different forms. This last one was quite difficult.

"When you are assigned to your human, sometimes the time will come when you need to protect them directly, without burning their eyes out. It is very rare that you will have to do this, but if you don't blind them with it all at once by only using part of your grace, then they should be fine. If your human is attacked, then you will need to send down a small part of your grace to smite the demon, but not too much so that the human is overwhelmed. Let me give you an example." Gabriel explained. He landed in the grass and focused for a minute without moving. Slowly, a part of his grace broke away from him, it was powerful enough to smite a demon, but it was still very small compared to his full grace right next to him. His grace wasn't separate for long, and soon shrunk back into his form.

"It's harder for me because I wasn't created to do something like that, but it shouldn't be as hard for you, but from what I've been told it is one of the hardest things you have to learn to do. I want to see if any of you would be able to do such a task yet." Each of the angels landed on the grass around him and copied his movements. They had each grown more powerful, their graces shining brighter than when he first took them into his care. Their wings had grown to their full size and the five of them together could hardly fit on the same side of an enormous cliff face. They were still young and untempered of course, but they were slowly forming into God's warriors.

They were all silent for a moment while they focused purely on their grace, but sure enough, after awhile, one of them managed to pull it off. A strangled growl came from Lythel, but part of her grace was splitting apart from her form. It kept going further, until it broke off completely, and she was nearly crying out in pain. Gabriel was at her side immediately.

She couldn't hold it for long, and it morphed back with her form and she collapsed. Gabriel was at her side, maybe he had been wrong and they weren't ready yet. He willed his grace to heal hers, and she started to stand up.

"You alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay." she replied. Before Gabriel could say anything more, he saw Balthazar and Amoura both start to pull it off as well. He looked at them worriedly, he shouldn't have pushed it so far so soon. He rushed to their sides as well as their graces began to split. Amoura's broke off first, but she was not in pain as much as Lythel was, she handled it well. When Balthazar began to break his off as well, it seemed to pain him a little, but he still pulled it off. Gabriel grinned with pride at both of them before going to check on Castiel.

Castiel was clearly trying his hardest to manifest another form of his grace, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't pull it off. Gabriel went over to him and laid a hand on his shoulder.

"Castiel, relax. Focus more on a single part of your grace rather than your grace as a whole, keep it simple kiddo. You got this." Gabriel reassured him. Castiel looked up at him, then nodded and continued to focus.

On the other side of the cliff, Lythel had resumed her focus and had begun to split her grace successfully without collapsing. Gabriel smiled over at her, they were all doing it, and he couldn't be happier with his angels.

They worked on splitting their grace for the rest of the day. Then they moved on to more flying. Unlike before, Gabriel pushed them to their limits, seeing how fast each of them could go, how sharp they could make their turns, and how well they could deliver an attack while in flight. He worked with them on this for many days, and every day they grew stronger and brighter.

Then, one hundred years down the line, the day came when Gabriel was called upon to deliver God's messages. To do this, he needed to leave his angels alone by themselves. When it came time to leave, their training was almost complete, but finishing it would have to wait until he returned.

"Sorry kiddos, but God needs me to do some work down below. I'll be back soon, but in the mean time, don't get into trouble, and look out for each other." Gabriel told them, before he embraced each one individually.

"Hurry back okay?" Castiel asked. He had really warmed up to Gabriel after awhile, even though he was still very reserved.

"I will, I promise." Gabriel replied, giving him a reassuring smile. He would miss them all a lot, they were his family. While he knew this job would take awhile, he didn't know how long. Things were near a breaking point in heaven as well, Lucifer and Michael were fighting daily now, and it didn't seem to be getting any better as time passed.

He left his angels with the leaders of their garrisons to get acquainted with the other angels and left toward Earth.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: I'm so sorry about the late update, I really meant for this to be longer, but I have been busier than a bee, I'm playing for my cousin's wedding on Saturday, school has started, and with it tennis season, all my fall rehearsals and string groups have started back up, and the worst is my allergies are nearly unbearable this time of year, I've been coughing my lungs out all week. Again, I'm really sorry, and I hope this makes up for it. Expect some angst coming, and more to follow after that, sorry, I gave you some fluffy chapters to make you happy, only to take it away.**

**Either way however, I hope you enjoy it, this was interesting to write, and will hopefully answer questions. Please review, I want to know how you guys like this. I know I say this often, but I really do. And for those of you that have favorited and followed this story, thank you very much, it warms the cockles of my heart! (pun intended)**

"So these are the young angels that Gabriel is raising." spoke a voice from behind them. "Nice to meet you, my name is Zachariah. I'm the ring-leader of your little garrison." All four of the angels were nervous at meeting the others, the only other angels they had ever spent time with was Gabriel.

"Hello Zachariah. Can I call you Zach?" Balthazar greeted first. He sounded confident when he spoke, but the three angels next to him knew that it was only a show.

"Will you be training us as well?" asked Amoura a bit nervously.

"Not near as much as Gabriel, but yes, I will help you. Most of your time will be spent with the other members of your garrison. They are the angels that will fight alongside you when the time comes. The garrison is just a short distance away, if you would please follow me," Zachariah said before flying off faster than the Angels were used to flying.

They opened their wings tentatively and sped off behind them. Amoura and Balthazar were confident with their wings, but Castiel and Lythel were apprehensive and flew behind Amoura and Balthazar, their white wings hiding the black behind them.

They arrived at a large open training area that was full of other angels, of course, large is a relative term. There are few words in the English language that can describe certain aspects of angels and Heaven regarding their true essence, their wings, their way of fighting and transporting. In regards to this room however, the closest words to fit it are expansive, electric, spacious, and militaristic. The room itself was sectioned off into different parts or training areas, where higher angels worked with the lower classes, angels dueled with each other, and there was more than enough space overhead to work on flying.

Of course, all these angels were warriors, they had received the more normal training that all normal angels received, and they were built for battle. The four that flew in behind Zachariah were not normal angels, they had been called for specific duties that they would all fulfill in time, and they required more attention than the others.

It did not escape the attention of any of them that each of the angels in the room had magnificent white and grey wings, along with all the colors of the universe. Except black.

The only two angels with black wings in the room had hid them upon entry, laying them flat against their backs, and taking the hands of their siblings for support. Everyone was nervous that day. Not only that, but many of these Angels were already thousands of years old, where the newcomers were barely over one hundred. They were the last angels to be created.

"Uriel! Come over and meet our newest recruits," Zachariah beckoned another Angel over from the training area, "This is Castiel, Balthazar, Lythel, and Amoura. They have come from Gabriel, apparently he has been teaching them on his own for quite some time. I've got to go, you take these kids on a tour, show them what they're missing." He left in a flash, leaving the four angels with a strong, hardened warrior.

"So you came from Gabriel huh? That must've been a trip. He's known for being quite the trickster around here. Thinks it's funny to mess with the training equipment. Course' that was probably before he had you four to look after." Uriel chuckled from his fond memory. "Anyway, why don't I take half of you to flight training? The rest of you can go work with Namura on combat training." The four exchanged nervous looks, but Uriel simply took Lythel and Amoura up to the high cliff where angels were taking turns diving off and soaring through a rather difficult set of traps, obstacles, and hazards.

While Amoura had extended her wings out, Lythel kept hers hidden for as long as she could. Knowing the tensions between Lucifer and Michael, and how his wings were pitch black like hers, she kept them folded tightly against her back as she shivered slightly. Amoura felt her discomfort and wrapped a wing around her shoulder.

"It's gonna be alright Lythel, I won't let anyone get to you." she spoke softly, giving her a reassuring smile.

From the top of the ledge, the other angels were simply small specs of light beneath them, the flying course now looking much more terrifying in full-scale. Amoura and Lythel exchanged worried glances, but said nothing while Uriel began to instruct them.

"Don't worry, we won't start you off on the hard stuff, for right now, I want you two to fly over to the tunnel across the way and back as fast as you can." Uriel spoke kindly. He could tell they were on edge that day, and he wasn't as strict or harsh as Zachariah was.

Amoura went first, stretching her white wings from behind her, and zipping off. She had flown fast before, but now she was pressing faster than she had before, and while it still wasn't as fast as some of the others whipping through the course around her, it was still an impressive feat for such a young angel.

She reached the tunnel's edge within a few seconds, and returned just as fast. Amoura fully expected Uriel to look at her with a disapproving glare, but he only had a small smile.

"That was quite good Amoura, you fly well for someone your age. Lythel, why don't you go next?" he spoke in a warm voice. Lythel was near panicking now. Amoura saw this, and went to her side. She didn't say anything, but stood by her and stroked her back softly, letting her grace emit warmth and confidence into Lythel's grace. With a nod, Lythel nervously stretched out her wings.

xxxxx

"Come on Castie, I think he said she was over here." Balthazar spoke to Castiel. They were both nervous without Amoura and Lythel around. They had always been braver than Balthazar and "Castie," as they had begun to call him affectionately.

"Hey, are you the two newbies that arrived? I heard there were four of you, but it looks like Uriel took half your little group." spoke a sharp voice from beside them.

"Yes, we are new." Castiel replied nervously.

"Good! I'm Namura, you're new teacher. Why don't you come with me and we'll get started." she replied, and walked quickly off toward one of the training areas, Castiel and Balthazar trailing behind her.

"So you were raised by Gabriel huh? That must've been... interesting." she spoke.

"Yes, Uriel spoke to us about that as well, if you don't tell him we said this, he's actually a really big softie." Balthazar said with a scheming grin and a flirtatious wink. Namura flashed him a smile. Castiel did the angelic equivalent of rolling his eyes, of course Balthazar would flirt with fellow members of the garrison.

"Well, I would've never guessed, he doesn't seem like the family man." she replied.

"He is around us." Castiel added in his gravely voice.

A short time later, they arrived at a separate training area. The floor below was created so that at any time, it could disappear and they would fight airborne and there were shelves of different swords and various weapons along the side.

"Alright, we'll start with you Castiel. Come at me with your best shot!" she said, standing across from him, and tossed him a faux angel blade. He caught it in midair and rushed toward her, still keeping his wings hidden. No one needed to know he had black wings.

The two blades met in a fury of movements, Castiel would make several jabs at strategic points in her body that were hard to defend. Angels' true form were hard to describe, they were not like human bodies, but for many purposes, including fighting, they took a human-like shape.

Namura blocked each of his shots with ease, and ending up knocking the sword out of his hand within the span of thirty seconds.

"Not bad for someone who's only a few hundred years old." she said with a sneer. "Come on fledgling, let's see how you do in the air." Before Castiel could do anything, Namura flicked her wrist and removed the floor from beneath them, sending Castiel falling below. He had no choice but to shoot out his ebony wings and soar upward. His expression hardned as he felt the gazes of angels from all across the room fall on his wings.

When Namura saw them, she was speechless, and he saw distrust and anger flash briefly through her eyes. All the voices in the room went deathly silent as Castiel beat his wings against the updraft. They were not all staring at him however, because just above them Lythel had exposed hers as well.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Sorry for not updating in so long! School hit my like a truck in the face, and I've been dealing with personal issues, among other things, and these past few weeks have been one hell of an emotional roller coaster to say the least! This next chapter is really long, so I hope that makes up for everything, plus I have more plot planned for this, and I'm really impressed with each chapter, how much it progresses and improves. So if you've made it this far, thank you a ton! It will only get better from here! I've got a plot forming in my head, and too many chapters to count at this point! I don't know when the next chapter will be up, it may be awhile, but hey, anything could happen! (Especially if a few reviews are left behind)**

"Well... Those are... impressive wings Lythel." Uriel spoke, a bit of an edge to his tone. He was smart enough to know what her wings meant, and where she would eventually go. Other stares soon came from the cliff as other angels saw her wings unfold from her back.

Lythel said nothing. She heard the other angels talk behind her, but she was now filled with determination. A will to prove them wrong. She heard the chatter in her mind,

_"She's got black wings just like Lucifer."_

_"When he falls, she'll probably go with him."_

_"What would you expect? I don't think she should be allowed to look after humans, not if she is going to go to hell. It's not right."_

She heard each voice as she shot her wings behind her, flew through the course and returned in less than a second, faster than almost all the other angels had managed to fly it. This seemed to silence many of the voices.

"That was good work Lythel. Next I'd like you to try the course just this way. It's longer, and has more obstacles, but I have no doubt that you can complete it. Amoura, while she is at work on that course, I want you to fly this one again, try focusing more on when your wings move forward rather than back.

Lythel cast a wary glance at Amoura. Neither of them breathed a word, but they knew what the other was trying to say,

_"Amoura, I'm scared."_

_"You can do this Lythel, don't let them get to you."_

She just walked towards a different part of the field. The course was indeed bigger, it seemed to go on for miles, but Lythel tried not to let that stop her. There were also a great deal more obstacles, many of which could be fatal if Lythel had even one misstep.

She wondered whether Uriel sent her over here because he thought she could be great, or whether he just wanted to humiliate her in front of the entire garrison. She tried to dismiss the thoughts, and shot off from the platform, soaring into the air through the course.

She dodged burning cases of holy fire to her right and left, trying to keep her wings under control so that they didn't singe her feathers. Next she passed through a long, pitch black tunnel lined with tar that was far narrower than anything Lythel had passed through before. She focused on her grace, remembering what Gabriel had said about shifting the form of her grace, and thinned her size enough to speed through the tunnel unharmed, loosing only a single feather when she returned to her full form outside the tunnel as it was caught on a bit of tar. It yanked her wing back and pain spiked where it had come out, but she kept pushing on, faster and faster.

She dodged past another obstacle of holy fire, and whizzed past about a mile's worth of obstacles, each one more treacherous than the last. There were a few close calls with the more deadly ones, but she managed to arrive back to where Uriel was waiting patiently, his eyes fixed on her every move.

Amoura had gone, she had flown on another course, Lythel could only hope that she would come through as unscathed as herself.

Amoura watched Lythel take off from across the course, her black wings stunning all those below her into silence. She shook her head to focus her thoughts, stretched her wings back, her muscles taught, and brought Uriel's words to the forefront of her mind. All that mattered was that she had to be fast and strong. With one powerful gust of her wings, she shot off the platform and across the sky.

She twisted side to side as she avoided the holy fire burning through different places from the bottom of a long, narrow tunnel. The fire lit up her vision like lightening strikes against the night, erupting from random places behind, in front of, and to the sides of her. There was no pattern to them, and even one lapse in her focus would result in her wings burning until she could not fly, or death.

She pulsed her wings harder, focusing on the movement of her wings so that they flattened when coming forward each time, and when they pushed the air behind them, she angled them so that they were wider and thicker.

She felt herself move faster than before, and she kept going. The fire from below was still a looming threat, and she felt herself moving with more ease each time she moved. The exit could be seen now, a small white light could be seen against the pillars of fire.

Amoura grinned and willed her wings to move faster and faster, her movements now akin to a dancing pattern, her wings beating and folding in, her body twisting to side to side in an almost rhythmic beat.

She shot out of the other side triumphantly, shooting through the next obstacles. A wall gleamed with angel blade nails, the size of it stretched below her, almost to the ground, and was connected to the ceiling of the building, but her speed was too fast to stop, so she banked down hard, pulling her wings in to dive-bomb the ground. The nails covering the wall scraped over her white clothes, exposing a bit of her grace to harm.

She cried out a bit in pain, but kept falling, opening her wings wide just before her form hit the ground, ten feet from the ground where the wall left a gap just wide enough for her to slip through, then she shot upwards again, beating her wings harder and faster than before.

The next obstacles tested her speed and power, where the last two were agility and control. A spell was cast for the last stretch of the course that sent huge, powerful gusts of wind against her wings, slowing down Amoura's wings and making the effort required much more difficult.

It took her longer, and before she had cleared even half that distance, she felt her wings tiring, and her grace crying out for relief.

_"No! I must keep going. I will show them just how strong I am, I will not give up now!" _she told herself, beating her wings harder and harder against the wind.

With each pulse of her wings, she felt herself falling farther back, her strokes were slowing down, and her pain only screamed louder and louder with each pulse. She focused her grace even more, shifting her wings and form to become thinner, while spreading out the feathers in her wings until they reached their full length so that air flowed through them, rather than push against them.

This technique worked, and she soon collapsed in exhaustion on the side of the training area. She shifted her form to her normal human-like shape. She remained on her hands and knees, shivering for a few moments before she felt Uriel's grace on her shoulder.

"You have done well Amoura. You're skills are commendable, considering your association with the archangel Gabriel and the others." Uriel praised.

Amoura shot up faster than she thought possible with her tired form, but she felt her wings flare out, and her grace extend from it's previous human-like form, into her real form.

"Don't you _dare _speak one word to me about my family demeaning them as anything less than what they are! One hundred years I spent with Gabriel and my brothers and sister. I know them better than you ever will and if you speak against them I will..." but before she could continue her sentence, she was silenced, and Amoura saw that she was no longer in the training area, she didn't recognize where she was at all.

Fear set in when Amoura realized that wherever she was, her wings were tied back and she was held against her will with sigils. She was in rehabilitation.

"Let's see if you match up to your brother, Lucifer." Namura replied with a smirk, her eyes locked on Castiel's ebony wings. Castiel's anger flared at her comment, Lucifer was well-known among the angels for his power, but he was also known for fighting non-stop against Michael and his frequent acts of rebellion.

She launched herself at Castiel, her blade slashing at him faster than Gabriel had ever trained him for. The floor that had just disappeared beneath him had taken up more room than he thought, and he dodged her first blow by turning right sharply, her blade catching part of his right wing briefly. He winced in pain, but used her momentary distraction to his wing as an opportunity to take a few swipes himself.

Their fight was intricate, more similar to a dance than anything. The human shapes their graces were formed to a while back had disappeared, and were now in their true, angelic forms. They were now nothing but beings of pure light, it became hard to distinguish between the two, their movements were too quick to follow, but the fight dragged on for quite awhile. Castiel may have been young, but he was his fighting skills were always among the best out of his siblings.

Slowly, Castiel's movements slowed down in exhaustion, and his black wings were no longer a blur, but his thrusts and swipes with his blade were still too fast to be registered as movements.

Namura eventually got the upper hand on Castiel, knocking the blade out of his hand so that it flew toward where Balthazar was waiting on the sides. She had her blade up against his neck in seconds.

"I will admit seraph, that was not too shabby, but if you had been up against a demon, you would not have fared so well." she backed away from him, bringing the floor up once again and walking away. "Your technique is disappointingly rough, your wings are more of a hinderance than an advantage, and your form need improvement." Castiel's grace burned with anger and frustration. "The only thing I think you've really got going for you is your power. Not many newbies could hold me off as long as you could."

When Balthazar looked over at Castiel, his eyes widened in concern, Castiel had never looked so angry. He tried to shout mentally to Castiel that she was only jealous of his wings and that he had actually fought better than either him or their sisters had ever fought. Frankly, Balthazar had almost never seen Castiel get that invested in a fight, ever. It was kind of terrifying to see him put all his effort into one fight, no matter how impressive it was.

He continued to watch as Namura worked with Castiel further, teaching him the basics of how to use his wings best in combat. Balthazar paid close attention, he would need it when he went up against her, because his skills were only maybe half of what Castiel's were.

"Alright, I think that's enough Castiel, you fought hard today. I'm going to work with your brother now, go rest." Namura said to Castiel, his wings sagging in exhaustion and his grace calling out for a break.

Balthazar waited until Castiel was at his side, he put his hand on Castiel's shoulder comfortingly, once he had shifted back into a human-like form. A quick look was exchanged between the two angels before Balthazar went over to go against Namura.

To say he was a bit frightened was a slight understatement, he was terrified. If Namura had been displeased with Castiel's performance, which was just short of spectacular, then how was he supposed to match up to it?

Nonetheless, he stretched and puffed his wings up in preparation for flight. Namura tossed a blade to him, it caught him by surprise, and he nearly dropped it. He didn't have much time to prepare before the floor went out beneath him and he dropped a few feet before beating his wings.

Namura wasted no time in flying at Balthazar, blade slashing. Balthazar was caught off guard once again, and was barely able to deflect a harsh strike to his side. He swiped back in retalliation, only to be deflected multiple times by his trainer.

After a few more poorly planned clashes of swords, Balthazar realized that he was not near as skilled as his brother, and Namura was going easy on him. He wanted so badly to be angry, but the smile Namura was giving him, she was, flirting? Balthazar wasn't aware that angels were capable of flirting, he was convinced it was solely a human experience, but maybe things were different?

Before Balthazar could elaborate further on his thoughts, she struck again at his wing. He flinched back at what should have been a near-fatal wound, but it had barely grazed him. With Castiel she had used a real blade, but with him it seemed, she was using a distilled kind of weapon, it could still inflict pain, but much less so.

The fight went on for a bit longer than Castiel's, Balthazar was not worked as hard, and Namura had less of a problem taking it easier on him. Not that Balthazar objected to this, he had always been quite the extrovert, and he relished in the attention he was getting.

Finally, they finished their fight and returned to the training area floor, with both angels still, for the most part, unfazed by the exertion.

"That was quite a match Balthazar, you've done very well. You've got a good sense of agility and speed, which will be good when you're in flight training, but your technique and aggression could use some work. You hardly made any blows at me when we were sparring, you need to be more aggressive, less defensive." she continued to lecture Balthazar, her voice much less condescending than when she critiqued Castiel.

On the sidelines, Castiel was near fuming. With a few of his winning smiles, Balthazar had won the favors of their trainer. She wasn't supposed to pick favorites, but he supposed when push came to shove, white wings were probably more preferable than black, tainted wings.

His thoughts drifted to Lythel, and whether she was encountering any problems with her own wings. He hoped for both their sakes that if they could prove to the angels that they were just as powerful, and not as corrupt, as their brother Lucifer.

He simply shook his head, no matter what the other angels said, Gabriel had said they were created for a higher purpose, something that wouldn't be revealed to them until much later. He couldn't wait to find out what it was.

Gabriel flew above the clouds, out of sight. He had been assigned to appear to a few select humans, the most important one was the virgin Mary, who was waiting to give birth to the savior, God's only son.

That of course, wasn't for a few more hundred years, and frankly, Gabriel was bored. God had sent him to work because his angels needed to go to real training, and Gabriel had known that he was not meant to train them. He wanted more time with his angels, and his thoughts drifted to them.

He hoped they were okay, and that Lythel and Castiel weren't being too prejudiced for their brilliant plumage, it certainly wasn't their fault. He knew one of the reasons they were assigned to him was so that he could raise them in the most crucial stages of development, so that he was there reassuring them every step of the way, telling them that the colors of their wings didn't matter, and that it was only because they were special.

It wasn't just his ebony-winged angels he worried about, it was his ivory-winged ones as well. Yes, they had caught on to everything quickly, but it was always a bit harder for them to learn, and they were never as strong as Castiel or Lythel. They had always been each other's biggest supporters despite it all. Gabriel hoped that they could stick through it together.

While he was sentenced to his time on Earth, Gabriel decided there couldn't be much harm in meeting the local humans, God's finest creations as they were called. The nearest town at the moment was Sumer, a tiny little place between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.

He didn't have a vessel yet, his bloodline was out there, but he couldn't have access to it for another fifteen years, which frustrated him a bit. Gabriel contented himself with flying over their city, and he may or may not have influenced a few artists to create greatness, and helped a few lovers in their pursuits, and fertilized the fields of the farmers.

It brought him peace, to know that these humans were thriving because of him, and that even if he could aid them a little, how much of a difference it made. His grace perked up when he sensed a part of his vessel, one that would eventually father children, one of which would finally be able to contain his grace.

He waited until the young adult was sleeping, and then went into his dream and introduced himself.

"Hi there." Gabriel greeted, taking the form of a normal adult male like the man who's dreams he was now intruding upon.

"Who are you?" the man questioned.

"Well, to be blunt, the name's Gabriel. Probably haven't heard of me or my kind yet, but you will." the man looked at Gabriel like he was insane.

"Are you insane?"

Gabriel chuckled. "Not as insane as you want me to be kiddo. Now I'll get straight to the point, I need your body. No, not in that sense, but in the sense that I need to ride around a bit, use it as my own. Cuz' this," he gestured to the body he had formed himself, "isn't my true form. Not even close."

The man seemed cautious, but curious nonetheless.

"What do you mean that you need to use my body as 'your own?'" he asked.

"I mean that you are my vessel, short stuff. I won't be around in it for long, and you'll have it back before the end of the week. Besides, I've watched you for a few days, I've seen you pining after that lovely seamstress, you should definitely work on that when I'm done." Gabriel added the last part with his trademark smirk.

"Alright, fine. Just, make sure my mother is cared for alright? I'm afraid to leave her alone for that long when she's sick." the man reasoned. Gabriel felt a small needle of empathy strike his grace, this man was worried for his mother more than he was letting on.

"You have my word as an archangel. I will watch over your mother and care for her. All you have to do now squirt is just say the word, and I'm yours and you're mine." Gabriel joked.

"Alright, you can ride around in me for a bit." the man replied. He would do this as long as he helped his mother, because at the moment things were not looking good for her.

Gabriel grinned, as the man woke up and was surrounding by a light brighter than anything he had ever seen before, accompanied by a high-pitched blare that caused his ears to nearly start bleeding.

It was all over as Gabriel took possession of his vessel, the light in the room filtering into the man. He blinked his eyes several times, stretching out his limbs, and looking at his fingers in wonder. He couldn't help but smile, even if this wasn't his true vessel, he was completely awed by these creatures that his Father had created, and he wondered how Lucifer could ever hate such intriguing creatures.


End file.
